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I left some land to my son Bertrand For life, with remainder to heirs. He takes in fee, and the heirs — ah me! — Get nothing, in equal shares. And my devisees in their degrees Get nothing, or little at best, I see; While an heir I hate takes a large estate On the ground of my partial intestacy! SHADE (whose will had been ably drawn by counsel in the preiious century).

Ere / took my And set him An elegant will According to

last journey I had an attorney at work to draw with a codicil, form of law.

And none byt that will hath taken a mil; Since first they broke the seals, A century 's past, and I 'm told at last It has gone to the Court of Appeals. And each legatee is as dead as we, And the graves of the heirs are green; But the will must bide till the court decide Whatever its phrases mean.